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NEWS: ANDY ARNOLD CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY AT TRON THEATRE

Artistic Director Andy Arnold has been taking stock as he enters his 10th anniversary year at the helm of Tron Theatre, with his enthusiasm for the work made and programmed undiminished. He continues to push the boundaries of theatrical experiment and provocation more than ever before and his Spring/Summer 2018 season is a refusal to present the safe and familiar. Highlights will include:

Stephen Adly Guirgis’s high-octane, tough-talking play about love, infidelity and survival The Motherf**ker with the Hat presented by Tron Theatre Company and Sherman Theatre, Cardiff.

A new musical comedy Bingo! from Grid Iron and Stellar Quines, penned by Tron favourites Johnny McKnight and Anita Vettesse.

The world premiere of David Leddy’s absurd, sensual and provocative parable about trust and truth, The Last Bordello

An all-female, irreverent version of a literary classic, Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) in a Tron Theatre Company co-production with Blood of the Young.

Tron Theatre Company, in co-production with Sherman Theatre, Cardiff take on Stephen Adly Guirgis’s fast and ferocious, The Motherf**ker with the Hat (1-17 March), about recovering addict and ex-con Jackie’s attempts to stay on the straight and narrow in both life and love despite the behaviour of the people closest to him.

The Tron are also working with Blood of the Young on the summer comedy, this year we’re tackling a literary classic with Pride & Prejudice* (*sort of) (28 June – 14 July). Paul Brotherston will direct this irreverent all-female adaptation of Jane Austen’s famous text. The question is: how important is a happy ending?

In the main auditorium, there’s a diverse programme of work. Celtic Connections returns (19 Jan – 3 Feb) including a run of Matt Regan’s Greater Belfast which Tron Theatre helped to develop in 2016. ‘Iconoclast’ David Leddy presents The Last Bordello (10-17 Feb), an ingeniously fiendish labyrinth of a story that gets more puzzling and suspenseful with every wrong turn. Mark Thomas, whose highly politicized comedy regularly sells out here at the Tron brings a new show about his attempts to set up a comedy club in the Palestinian city of Jenin Showtime from the Frontline (21-24 March, 7.45pm + matinee Sat 24, 2.30pm).

Grid Iron and Stellar Quines present a new musical comedy from the inimitable Johnny McKnight and Anita Vettesse, Bingo! (12-14 April, 7.45pm) combining barnstorming numbers and banter for an unforgettable night. The visceral, physical and musical qualities of Milton’s Paradise Lost are explored in Al Seed and Judith Milligan’s new work The Shadow of Heaven (17 & 18 Apr, 7.45pm), a highly imaginative adaptation of the seminal poem that was originally imagined as a piece of tragic theatre.

The Changing House programme opens with Testroom Scratch Night (24 Jan) as part of manipulate Visual Theatre Festival, where four scratch pieces will be given their first public airing. Leyla Josephine is Hopeless (26 & 27 Jan), examining human suffering through quick-fire poetry and dark comedy. Tron Studio, the adult community drama group, present Chimera (15-17 Feb) and the same creative team from Eden Court Theatre that brought us Not About Heroes present The Return (23 Feb), a gripping play about the mystery of identity and the survival instinct.

Stuntman (28 Feb – 3 Mar) is an intensely physical, funny and tender duet by two men who wrestle with their relationship with violence; and How to Act (6-10 Mar) explores the contemporary realities of personal, cultural and economic exploitation. Andy Edwards will present his experiment in laying bare the mechanics of poetry, In Burrows (23 & 24 Mar, 8pm) and Paul Brotherston will direct Olivier Award-winning writer Jack Thorne’s vital coming-of-age tale for our times, Bunny (28 Mar – 7 Apr) for Tron Theatre Company. Mary Shelley’s life is explored in an atmospheric and moving new piece from The Occasion, The Monster and Mary Shelley (20 & 21 Apr) and Knaive Theatre bring their ‘deeply uncomfortable and deeply dramatic’ smash-hit Edinburgh Fringe show, Bin Laden: The One Man Show (26-28 Apr).

Theatre Gu Leòr present a site-specific new play with live music, songs and stories, Cèilidh (7-10 Mar) in the Vic Bar and all the regular music sessions are back including Sunday Jazz, The Seven Song Club sponsored by Makar and An Evening Of…

Andy Arnold said of his Spring/Summer programme:

“I’ve put together a really strong programme of work for the Spring and Summer season, and in the ten years that I’ve been in post at the Tron Theatre, I’ve always striven to push boundaries and challenge audience expectations. The calibre of the creatives and companies we’re working with is second-to-none which means our audiences get to see some of the most innovative, thought-provoking and bold work being made and toured in Scotland today.”